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JANUARY
| Date |
Event |
| 1900 -
Jan 5 |
Governor Adlai Ewing
Stevenson, 31st Governor of Illinois, is born in Los
Angeles. Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (February 5,
1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician, noted
for his intellectual demeanor and advocacy of liberal
causes in the Democratic party. He served one term as
governor of Illinois and ran, unsuccessfully, for
president against Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.
He served as Ambassador to the United Nations from 1961
to 1965. |
| 1878 -
Jan 6 |
Carl Sandburg is born in
Galesburg, Illinois. Carl August Sandburg
(January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet,
historian, novelist, balladeer, and folklorist. He was
born in Galesburg, Illinois of Swedish parents. He lived
in the mid-west, primarily Chicago, and in 1945 moved to
a large estate named Connemara, in Flat Rock, North
Carolina. He and his wife and daughters resided at
Connemara until his death in 1967. H. L. Mencken called
Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every
pulse-beat." He was a successful journalist, poet,
historian, biographer, and autobiographer. During the
course of his career, Sandburg won two Pulitzer Prizes,
one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln (Abraham
Lincoln: The War Years) and one for his collection
The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg. |
| 1897 -
Jan 9 |
Governor Dwight Herbert
Green (January 9, 1897 – February 20, 1958), 30th
Governor of Illinois (1941-1949), is born in Ligonier,
Noble County, Indiana, son of Harry Green and Minnie
(Gerber) Green. He married Mabel Victoria Kingston June
29, 1926. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I,
attended law school at the University of Chicago,
practiced law, and served as United States Attorney for
the Northern District of Illinois in 1931-35. It would
be Green's primary responsibility to help fight the
organized crime operations -- such as Al Capone's gang
-- which virtually ruled Chicago and much of the state
in the 1930's. The government team prosecuting Al Capone
for Tax Evasion consisted of U.S. Attorney George E. Q.
Johnson, and his prosecutors Dwight H. Green, Samuel
Clawson, Jacob Grossman and William Froelich. In 1939,
he was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for Mayor
of Chicago. |
| 1815 -
Jan 18 |
Governor Richard Yates
(January 18, 1818 - November 27, 1873), 13th Governor of
Illinois (1861-1865), is born in Warsaw, Kentucky. He
moved with his family to Illinois in 1831, graduated
from Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, in
1835, studied law at Transylvania University in
Lexington, Kentucky, and admitted to the bar in 1837 and
commenced practice in Jacksonville. Yates served as a
member of the Illinois House of Representatives from
1842-1845 and 1848-1849. In 1850, he was elected as a
Whig to the United States House of Representatives where
he was the youngest member of the Thirty-second
Congress. He was reelected to Congress in 1852. During
Yates' second term in Congress, the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise reopened the anti-slavery question.
He opposed the repeal, and became identified with the
new Republican Party. His district was pro-slavery and
consequently he narrowly lost his bid for a third term.
He was elected governor of Illinois just before the
Civil War, and sent more troops to aid the Union than
any other state. He also represented Illinois in the
United States House of Representatives (1851-1855) and
as a U.S. Senator (1865-1871). |
| 1828 -
Jan 20 |
Lincoln's sister, Sarah,
who married Aaron Grigsby on August 2, 1826, dies in
childbirth. During this year, Abraham and Allen Gentry
take a flatboat loaded with cargo to New Orleans for
Allen's father, James Gentry. |
| 1794 -
Jan 22 |
Governor Joseph Duncan
(February 22, 1794 – January 15, 1844) , 6th Governor of
Illinois (1834-1838), is born in Paris, Kentucky.
After serving in the War of 1812, Duncan settled in
Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois, where he began
his political career, serving in the Illinois House of
Representatives from 1825 to 1829, and later as a U.S.
Congressman. During his term as governor, Duncan worked
with the legislature to create an Internal
Improvements Act, which paved the way for numerous
roads, state highways, bridges and canals across the
state. He later changed his mind, deciding the costs
would be too high, but the legislature moved ahead with
the plan, building roads between small towns.
Unfortunately, the debt from the Internal
Improvements Act would not be fully paid off until
1882, costing the state more in interest than in the
dollar amounts to actually build the improvements
throughout the state. It was also during Duncan's tenure
that the state capital was removed from Vandalia,
Fayette County, Illinois, to the current location,
Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. Duncan died in
Jacksonville and is buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery. |
| 1923 -
Jan 22 |
Governor Richard Buell
Ogilvie (February 22, 1923–May 10, 1988), 35th Governor
of Illinois (1969-1973), is born in Kansas City,
Missouri. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he
achieved notoriety as the mafia-fighting Sheriff of Cook
County, Illinois in the 1960s. From 1958 to 1961 he
served as a special assistant to the United States
Attorney General heading an office fighting organized
crime in Chicago. Ogilvie was elected as Cook County
Sheriff in 1962 where he served until 1967. From 1967 to
1969, he served as President of the Cook County Board of
Commissioners. As governor, he successfully advocated
for a state constitutional convention, increased social
spending, and secured Illinois' first state income tax.
The latter was particularly unpopular with the
electorate, and he lost a close election to the Daniel
Walker in 1972, ending his career in elective office. He
died in Chicago at the age of 65. |
| 1934 -
Jan 24 |
Governor George Ryan
(February 24, 1934 - ), 39th Governor of Illinois
(1999-2003), is born in Maquoketa, Iowa. Although Ryan
became nationally known when he issued a moratorium on
executions in 2000, his 35-year political career was
tarnished by scandal. Investigations into widespread
corruption during his administration led to his
retirement from politics in 2003 and federal corruption
convictions in 2006. Ryan entered federal prison on
November 7, 2007 to begin serving a sentence of six
years and six months. He grew up in Kankakee
County, Illinois, served in the U.S. Army in Korea, and
returned to Kankakee County, where he began his
political career by serving on the Kankakee County Board
from 1968 to 1973. He was then elected to the Illinois
House of Representatives, where he served from 1973 to
1983, including two terms as Minority Leader and one
term as Speaker. He then spent 16 years in statewide
office, as Lt. Governor under Governor James R. Thompson
(1983-1991), Secretary of State from 1991 to 1999, and
as Governor from 1999 to 2003. He was elected Governor
in 1998, defeating his Democratic opponent, U.S.
Representative Glenn Poshard, by a 51%–47% margin. Ryan
chose a female running mate, Lt. Governor Corrine Wood.
His major accomplishments as governor include an
extensive repair of the Illinois Highway System called
"Illinois FIRST" (Fund for Infrastructure, Roads,
Schools, and Transit), which created a $6.3 billion
package for use in school and transportation projects;
</> <>improving Illinois's technology infrastructure,
creating one of the first cabinet-level Offices of
Technology in the country and bringing up Illinois's
technology ranking in a national magazine from 48th out
of the 50 states when he took office to 1st just two
years later; committing record funding to education,
including 51% of all new state revenues during his time
in office, in addition to the billions spent through
Illinois FIRST that built and improved schools and
education infrastructure; by becoming the first sitting
U.S. Governor to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro
(1999); and by declaring a moratorium on his state's
death penalty (2000). |
| 1861 -
Jan 26 |
Governor Frank Orren
Lowden(January 26, 1861– March 20, 1943), 25th Governor
of Illinois (1917-1921), is born in Sunrise Township,
Minnesota. He lived in Iowa from the age of 7 until his
graduation from Iowa State University in 1885. He
graduated from Chicago, Illinois' Union College of Law
in 1887, and was admitted to the bar the same year. His
wife, Florence, was the daughter of George Pullman. He
was a Congressional representative from Illinois, from
1906 until 1911. As governor of Illinois, he is best
known for a major reorganization of state government. He
was a leading candidate for the Republican nomination
for president in 1920, but the delegates deadlocked over
several ballots between Lowden and General Leonard Wood,
resulting in party leaders meeting privately to
determine a compromise candidate. Their choice, Warren
G. Harding, went on to win the nomination. In 1924 he
declined the Republican nomination for Vice President.
In 1928 he again positioned himself to run for the
party's nomination, but he was never much more than a
minor threat to front runner Herbert Hoover, who went on
to win the convention and the election. He died in
Tucson, Arizona, and is buried in Graceland Cemetery in
Chicago. |
| 1788 -
Jan 26 |
Governor John Reynolds
(February 26, 1788 – May 8, 1865) , 4th Governor of
Illinois (1830-1834), is born in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. He was one of the original four justices
of the Illinois Supreme Court, 1818-1825, a member of
the Illinois House of Representatives from 1826-1830,
1846-1848, and 1852-1854 (when he was Speaker of the
House), and also represented Illinois in the United
States House of Representatives, 1834-1837 and
1839-1843. Reynolds spent most of his childhood in
Kaskaskia, Illinois. In the fall of 1812 he was admitted
to the bar at Kaskaskia. After serving in the War of
1812, where he became known as the "Old Ranger,"
Reynolds opened a law office in the old French village
of Cahokia, then the county seat of St. Clair County. In
the fall of 1818 he was elected an associate justice of
the Illinois Supreme Court by the Illinois General
Assembly. In 1818, he was an unsuccessful candidate for
election to the United States Senate. In 1826, he was
elected a member of the Illinois House of
Representatives for the first time, serving until 1830.
</><>The most significant event of his administration
was the Black Hawk War in 1832. On November 17, 1834,
Reynolds resigned as governor, having been elected to
the United States House of Representatives for the
Twenty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Charles Slade, where he served until 1837 and
again from 1839-1843. Reynolds was elected in 1846 for
one term as a member of the Illinois House of
Representatives from St. Clair County. He was again
elected in 1852, serving as Speaker of the House. </>
<>In 1860, aged and infirm, he attended the Democratic
National Convention in Charleston, South Carolina, as an
anti-Douglas Delegate, instead supporting John C.
Breckinridge in the U.S. presidential election. He died
in Belleville in May 1865 and is buried in Walnut Hill
Cemetery. |
| |
|
FEBRUARY
| Date |
Event |
| 1865 -
Feb 1 |
Illinois ratifies 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. |
| 1809 -
Feb 3 |
Illinois Territory established. |
| 1911 -
Feb 6 |
President Ronald Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June
5, 2004), 40th President of the
United States (1981-1989), is born in Tampico, Illinois. |
| 1861 -
Feb 11 |
President-elect Abraham Lincoln leaves Springfield,
Illinois, on February 11th for Washington. He will never
return to the only home he had ever owned. |
1809 -
Feb 12 |
Abraham Lincoln (February
12, 1809 – April 15, 1865), 16th President of the United
States (1861-1865), is born in Hodgenville, Kentucky. |
| 1853 -
Feb 12 |
Illinois Wesleyan
University chartered. |
| 1857 -
Feb 15 |
Illinois State University
is founded. |
| 1820 -
Feb 15 |
Susan B. Anthony (February
15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) is born in Adams,
Massachusetts. |
| 1914 -
Feb 26 |
Governor William Stratton
(February 26, 1914–March 2, 2001), 32nd Governor of
Illinois (1953-1961), is born in Ingleside in Lake
County, Illinois. Known as "Billy the Kid", he served
two non-consecutive terms as an at-large Congressman
from Illinois, elected in 1940 and 1946. He was elected
state treasurer in 1944 and 1950. He won his party's
nomination for governor in 1952, defeating Lt. Governor
Sherwood Dixon to become the
youngest Governor in America at that time. In 1960,
Governor Stratton ran for an unprecedented
third-consecutive term but was defeated by Otto Kerner,
Jr. Acquitted of charges of tax evasion in 1965, he died
at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago,
Illinois in 2001. At the time of his death he was a
member of the Illinois Civil Service Commission |
| 1867 -
Feb 28 |
University of Illinois
established. |
MARCH
| Date |
Event |
| 1796 -
Mar 1 |
Governor William Lee
Davidson Ewing is born in 1796. |
| 1837 -
Mar 3 |
State capital moves to
Springfield (from Vandalia) in 1837. |
| 1837 -
Mar 4 |
Illinois General Assembly
approves charter for Chicago in 1837. |
| 1775 -
Mar 17 |
Governor Ninian Edwards is
born in 1775. |
| 1947 -
Mar 25 |
Coal mine explosion in
Centralia in 1947. |
APRIL
| Date |
Event |
| 1979 -
April 3 |
Jayne Byrne becomes
Chicago's first female mayor in 1979, |
| 1844 -
April 4 |
Governor John Riley Tanner
is born in 1844. |
| 1955 -
April 5 |
Richard J. Daley becomes
Chicago mayor in 1955. |
| 1942 -
April 9 |
B Company, 192nd Tank
Battalion surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula to the
Japanese in WWII. This company was originally an
Illinois National Guard Tank Company from Maywood.
Before the surrender, on December 21, 1941, a platoon of
B Company tanks, with crews made up mainly of Illinois
National Guardsmen, fought the first tank battle of WWII
involving American tanks.
http://www.proviso.k12.il.us/bataan%20web/index.htm
|
| 1846 -
April 14 |
Donner Party embarks from
Springfield. |
| 1811 -
April 25 |
Governor William Henry is
born in 1811. |
| 1907 -
April 25 |
Governor Samuel Shapiro is
born. |
| |
|
MAY
| Date |
Event |
| 1973 -
May 3 |
Sears Tower Completed in
1973 |
| 1886 -
May 4 |
Haymarket Square Riot in
1886 |
| 1863 -
May 4 |
Governor Charles Samuel
Deneen is born in 1863 |
| 1936 -
May 8 |
Governor James Thompson is
born in 1936 |
| 1838 -
May 9 |
First rail line in Illinois
laid in 1838 |
| May 11 |
Mother's Day. After almost
a decade of organizing by Anna Jarvis, the US Congress
established Mother's Day as a national holiday in 1914,
and it was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson
on May 8 of that year. |
| 1804 -
May 14 |
Lewis and Clark Expedition
leaves Illinois in 1804 |
| 1860 -
May 18 |
Lincoln nominated for
President of the United States in 1860 |
| 1899 -
May 19 |
Illinois State Historical
Society established in 1899 |
| 1868 -
May 28 |
Memorial Day established by
John A Logan, Civil War General and founder of the Grand
Army of the Republic in 1868 |
JUNE
| Year |
Event |
| 1944 -
June 6 |
D-Day, 1944 |
| 1919 -
June 10 |
Illinois ratifies women's
suffrage in 1919 |
| 1949 -
June 14 |
Flag Day ratified by
Congress in 1949 |
| 1966 -
June 15 |
Father's Day.
President Lyndon Johnson established Father's Day as the
third weekend in June in 1966. |
|
1862 - June 16 |
Governor Lennington (Len)
Small (June 16, 1862 – May 17, 1936), 26th Governor of
Illinois (1921 - 1929), is born in Kankakee County in
1862.
A Republican, he served as Senator of Illinois' 16th
District (1901 - 1903) and as State Treasurer (1905 -
1907 and 1917 - 1919). Governor Small was indicted while
in office for allegedly running a money-laundering
scheme while state treasurer. He was acquitted, but four
jurors later got state jobs, raising suspicions of jury
tampering. As governor he pardoned 20 members of the
Communist Labor Party convicted under the Illinois
Sedition act. In 1923 bootlegger Edward "Spike"
O'Donnell of the Southside Chicago O'Donnells was
released from prison by Small. O'Donnell returned to
Chicago as the leader of one of the most powerful
bootlegging gangs in the city. He died May 17, 1936, and
is buried at Mound Grove Cemetery, Kankakee. |
| June 21 |
Summer Solstice.
Solstices occur twice a year, when the tilt of the
Earth's axis is oriented directly towards or away from
the Sun, causing the Sun to appear to reach its
northernmost and southernmost extremes. The name is
derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand
still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still
in declination; that is, its apparent movement north or
south comes to a standstill. The term solstice can also
be used in a wider sense, as the date (day) that such a
passage happens. The solstices, together with the
equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some
languages they are considered to start or separate the
seasons; in others they are considered to be centre
points (in English, in the Northern hemisphere, for
example, the period around the June solstice is known as
midsummer, and Midsummer's Day is 24 June, about three
days after the solstice itself). Similarly 25 December
is the start of the Christmas celebration, which was a
Pagan festival in pre-Christian times, and is the day
the sun begins to return back to the northern
hemisphere. |
| 1844 -
June 27 |
Joseph and Hyrum Smith are
murdered in Carthage in 1844 |
JULY
| Date |
Event |
| 1985 - July 1 |
Illinois State Historic
Preservation Agency formed in 1985. |
| 1917 - July 2 |
Race riot in East St. Louis
in 1917. |
| 1776 - July 4 |
Independence Day |
| 1918 - July 5 |
Steamboat Columbia
sinks in Pekin in 1918. |
| 1915 - July 6 |
State Flag adopted in 1915. |
| 1824 - July 6 |
Governor John Lourie
Beveride is born in 1824. |
| 1946 - July 7 |
Mother Francis Xavier
Cabrini declared a saint in 1946. |
| 1786 - July 18 |
Governor Thomas Carlin is
born in 1786. |
| 1899 - July 21 |
Ernest Hemingway is born in
Oak Park in 1899. |
| 1946 - July 22 |
Governor Jim Edgar is born
in 1946. |
| 1915 - July 24 |
Eastland Disaster in 1915. |
| 1825 - July 25 |
Governor Richard James
Oglesby is born in 1825. |
AUGUST
| Date |
Event |
| 1808 - August 2 |
Governor Augustus Chaplin
French is born in 1808. |
| 1809 - August 2 |
Governor Joel Aldrich
Matteson is born in 1809. |
| 1922 - August 6 |
Governor Daniel Walker is
born in 1922. |
| 1833 - August 10 |
Village of Chicago is
formed in 1833. |
| 1891 - August 10 |
Governor John H. Stelle is
born in 1891. |
| 1908 - August 14 |
Springfield Race Riot in
1908. |
| 1908 - August 16 |
Author William Maxwell is
born in 1908. |
| 1958 - August 21 |
Lincoln-Douglas debates
begin in 1958. |
SEPTEMBER
| Date |
Event |
| Sept 1 |
Labor Day |
| 1860 - Sept 8 |
Lady Elgin sinks in
1860. |
| 1817 - Sept 13 |
Governor John McAuley
Palmer is born in 1817. |
| |
Illinois State Historical
Society Centennial Awards established. |
| 1908 - Sept 15 |
Governor Otto Kerner is
born in 1908. |
| Sept 23 |
Autumnal Equinox |
| 1912 - Sept 23 |
First issue of Poetry
magazine appears in 1912. |
| 1833 - Sept 26 |
Treaty of Chicago in 1833. |
| |
|
OCTOBER
| Date |
Event |
| 1871 -
Oct 8 |
The Great Fire of Chicago
started. That same day in Peshtigo, Wis., the worst
forest fire in U.S. history also began. |
| 1779 -
Oct 11 |
Polish patriot and American
Revolutionary War commander Casimir Pulaski was killed
in the battle of Savannah. |
| 1853 -
Oct 11 |
First State Fair opened in
Springfield. |
| 1853 -
Oct 12 |
Governor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne
(October 12, 1853–May 24, 1937). Born in 1853 in
Watertown, Connecticut, a Democrat, he was inaugurated
as the 31st mayor of Chicago on April 5, 1905; he served
until 1907. He was the governor of Illinois from 1913 to
1917. He died in 1937 in Chicago, Illinois. In
1921 he helped found an organization called the
"National Unity Council" to combat the Ku Klux Klan. |
| 1898 -
Oct 12 |
Virden Massacre |
| 1861 -
Oct 13 |
The 8th Illinois Cavalry, made up of
1164 recruits from northern Illinois from Chicago to
Iowa (mustered September 13 at Fort Kane in St. Charles)
left the state on October 13 for
Washington and camped at Meridian Hill on the 17th.
On December 17, the encampment was moved to Alexandria
VA.
Major Engagements: Peninsula
Campaign, Malvern Hill, Mechanicsville, Gaines Hill,
Malvern Hill, Poolesville, South Mountain, Antietam,
Hanover Court House, Seven Pines, Chancellorsville,
Brandy Station, Middleburg, Upperville, Gettysburg,
Boonsboro, Williamsport, Funkstown, Falling Waters,
Chester Gap, Culpeper, Raid to Falmouth, Raccoon Ford,
Ely's Ford
http://www.bufordsboys.com/8thILHistory.htm |
| 1817 -
Oct 15 |
Thomas Lincoln travels to
the government land office at Vincennes, Indiana, and
records the farm he has settled on. |
| 1860 -
Oct 15 |
Eleven-year-old Grace
Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., wrote a letter to
presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he
could improve his appearance by growing a beard. |
| 1931 -
Oct 17 |
Mobster Al Capone was convicted of
income tax evasion for which he was sentenced to 11
years in prison. |
| 1850 -
Oct 23 |
Physically distant from the
South, and populated mostly by northerners, many with
antislavery sentiments, Chicago was a relatively safe
haven for fugitive slaves. After the adoption of the
1850 Fugitive Slave Law by the United States Congress,
the city's African American community formed a “Liberty
Association” with regular patrols to subvert the
legislation by preventing the seizure of blacks in the
city by slaveholders and their agents. In October 1850 a
slave catcher from Missouri arrived in the city and was
informed by leading citizens that his safety was at risk
if he stayed. Meanwhile, a slave he had brought with him
to help capture the runaway also escaped. On October 21,
1850, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution
condemning the new law as “cruel and unjust” and
directing the city's police “not to render any
assistance for the arrest of fugitive slaves.” On
October 23 Senator Stephen A. Douglas, in a major
speech, condemned the city council resolution. An
attempt to rescind the resolution failed and on November
29, 1850, the city council reaffirmed its opposition to
the law and its refusal to allow city officials to
enforce it. In 1860 John Hossack was convicted in
federal district court in Chicago of aiding a fugitive
slave who had escaped to Ottawa, Illinois. The jury
recommended mercy and Judge Thomas Drummond imposed a
fine of only $100 and a sentence of 10 days in jail. |
| 2005 -
Oct 26 |
The Chicago White Sox sweep
the Houston Astros to win their first World Series in 88
years. |
| 1840 -
Occt 28 |
Governor Joseph Wilson
Fifer (October 28, 1840 – August 6, 1938) was a
Republican governor of Illinois, serving from 1889 to
1893. He also served as a member of the Illinois Senate,
1881-83. Fifer was born in Staunton, Virginia. He
served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He died
in Bloomington, Illinois. |
| 1929 -
Oct 29 |
Black Tuesday -- Great
Stock Market Crash that led to the Great Depression |
| 1938 -
Oct 30 |
Radio broadcast of The
War of the Worlds, starring Orson Welles, caused
nationwide panic among listeners. |
| 1955 -
Oct 30 |
O'Hare International
Airport opens in 1955. |
| 1846 -
Oct 31 |
A heavy snowfall trapped
the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains. |
NOVEMBER
| Date |
Event |
1992 -
Nov 3 |
Carol Mosely-Braun elected
to US Senate |
| 1862 -
Nov 4 |
Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd are married and begin
housekeeping in Springfield, Illinois, on November 4th. |
1837 -
Nov 7 |
Elijah Lovejoy murdered |
1879 -
Nov 10 |
Poet Vachel Lindsay born in
Springfield, Illinois |
| Nov 11 |
Veterans Day |
1909 -
Nov 13 |
Cherry Mine Disaster |
1773 -
Nov 14 |
Shadrach Bond, first
Governor of Illinois, is born in Frederick, Maryland |
1829 -
Nov 22 |
Shelby Moore Cullom, 18th
Governor of Illinois, is born in Monticello, Kentucky |
| |
|
DECEMBER
| Date |
Event |
| 1819 -
Dec. 2 |
Thomas Lincoln, father of
Abraham, marries Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston in
Elizabethtown, Kentucky. |
1818 -
Dec 3 |
Illinois becomes 21st state |
1800 -
Dec 5 |
Thomas Ford, 8th Governor
of Illinois, born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania |
1941 -
Dec 7 |
Japanese attack Pearl
Harbor, bringing about the US entry into WWII |
1956 -
Dec 10 |
Milorad "Rod" R
Blagojevich, 42nd Governor, is born in Chicago, Illinois |
1861 -
Dec 12 |
Richard Yates, 13th
Governor of Illinois, born in Warsaw, Kentucky. |
1786 -
Dec 15 |
Edward Coles, 2nd Governor
of Illinois, born in Albermarle
County, Virginia. |
1970 -
Dec 15 |
3rd Illinois Constitution approved |
1798 -
Dec 20 |
John Wood, 12th Governor of Illinois, born in Moravia,
New York |
1863 -
Dec 27 |
Louis Lincoln Emmerson, 29th Governor of Illinois, born
in Albion, Illinois |
1816 -
Dec 28 |
Bank of Shawneetown approved |
1847 -
Dec 30 |
John Peter Altgeld, 22nd Governor of Illinois, born in
Niederselters, Prussia |
1903 -
Dec 30 |
Iroquois Fire Disaster |
A
Chronology of Illinois History
(reprinted from
Illinois History: An Annotated Bibliography, Ellen M.
Whitney, Compiler, Janice A. Petterchak, Editor, Sandra M.
Stark, Associate Editor, 1999, Illinois State Historical
Library, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 1 Old State
Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL 62701-1507.)
| Year |
Event |
| 10,000 BC -
8,000 BC |
Paleo Indians roam the
area, briefly occupying small camps in coniferous
forests and subsisting on large game and wild plants. |
| 8000 BC - 500
BC |
Archaic period Indians
inhabit deciduous forests in small groups, hunt deer and
small game, weave baskets, and grind seeds with stones. |
| 500 BC - AD
900 |
Woodland culture Indians
develop maize agriculture, build villages and burial
mounds, invent the bow and arrow for hunting, and being
making pottery. |
| 900-1500 |
Indians of the
Mississippian culture improve agricultural methods,
build temple mounds and large fortified villages.
Most of the settlements are abandoned prior to the
historic period. |
| 1673 |
French explorers Jacques
Marquette (1637-1675) and Louis Jolliet (1645-1700)
descend the Mississippi to the Arkansas River and return
to Wisconsin via the Illinois River -- the first
Europeans to reach the Illinois country. |
| 1675 |
Marquette founds a mission
at the Great Village of the Illinois, near present
Utica. |
| 1680 |
French traders Rene Robert
Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687) and Henry de
Tonty (1650-1704) build
Fort
Crevecoeur on the Illinois River, near present-day
Peoria. Iroquois Indians destroy the Great Village of
the Illinois. |
| 1682 |
La Salle and Tonty build
Fort St. Louis across the Illinois River from the Great
Village of the Illinois site. |
| 1696 |
Jesuit priest Pierre
Francois Pinet (1660-1704?) establishes the
Guardian Angel mission at present Chicago. |
| 1699 |
Priests of the Quebec
Seminary of Foreign Missions found the Holy Family
mission at
Cahokia, the first permanent settlement in the
Illinois country. |
| 1703 |
Jesuit priest Gabriel
Marest (1662-1714) moves to Immaculate Conception
mission from present St. Louis to
Kaskaskia. |
| 1717 |
Illinois becomes part of
the French colony of Louisiana. |
| 1718 |
John Law (1671-1729) is
granted a French charter for colonizing the Mississippi
Valley; his "Mississippi Bubble" scheme bursts in 1720. |
| 1720 |
Fort de Chartres in Randolph County becomes the seat
of military and civilian government in Illinois. |
| 1730 |
In a major battle, hostile
Fox Indians are massacred in east-central Illinois by
French troops and Indian allies. |
| 1763 |
French and Indian (Seven
Years') War ends; Illinois country is ceded to Britain
by the Treaty of Paris. |
| 1769 |
According to legend,
northern tribes besiege and starve Illinois Indian
tribes at Fort St. Louis, now known as
Starved Rock. |
| 1778 |
George Rogers Clark
(1752-1818) defeats the British at Kaskaskia, securing
the Illinois country for Virginia. |
| 1779 |
Jean Baptiste Point due
Sable (1745?-1818) establishes a trading post at
present-day Chicago. |
| 1783 |
Treaty of Paris extends the
United States boundary to include the Illinois country. |
| 1784 |
Virginia relinquishes its
claim to Illinois. |
| 1787 |
Northwest Ordinance places
Illinois in the Northwest Territory. |
| 1788 |
Arthur St. Clair
(1734-1818) becomes the first governor of the Northwest
Territory. |
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